


Monday Woes

by sundaydriver



Category: Shelter (2007)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 19:37:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/601344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sundaydriver/pseuds/sundaydriver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shaun was experiencing a very bad day, where everything was going wrong, but Zach and Cody manage to turn things around for him in the best possible way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Monday Woes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [curiouslyfic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/curiouslyfic/gifts).



> I liked the idea of Shaun being appreciated/shown some love, so I hope you like my interpretation of your prompt. It's set in the future, probably a few years after the movie. It's essentially a glimpse at one day in Shaun's life and I hope the semi-fluffy ending works for you. Enjoy!

Shaun woke up Monday morning feeling strangely refreshed, despite the odd dreams that had plagued his sleep. He immediately reached over to the other side of the bed for Zach and was disappointed to find that Zach had already left for school. He was thrilled that Zach was doing so well at CalArts and he would never say anything that would make Zach doubt that. But sometimes Shaun wished that Zach would sleep in, go to school a little later, so they could stay in bed for even a few minutes longer than usual. Shaun loved waking up to Zach having wrapped his arms around Shaun’s waist in the middle of the night. The feeling of calm that he got from being so close to Zach was priceless. But he also recognized how important it was for Zach to do well at school and Shaun was willing to sacrifice a lot of those morning cuddles, if it meant Zach achieved his dreams. It’s just that this week Shaun was feeling a little off, a little needy and the only thing that would make him feel more balanced was Zach.

Letting go of a large sigh, Shaun forced himself to get out of bed. He had to run some errands today, including going to the library and working on a few chapters of his new book.

“We’ll see if that actually happens,” Shaun mumbled to himself as he headed for the bathroom.

His editor had been on his case for two months now, wondering when his final chapters would be finished. Shaun had tried several times to finish the last part of his book, but he kept getting stuck. He still wasn’t sure if it was true writer’s block or something else he needed to worry about. Nothing he did, (a change of location, more coffee/less coffee, more light, new clothes, etc), seemed to help. It was beginning to wear on him, because if he wasn’t writing, he was then just cooped up in the apartment, waiting for Zach and Cody to come home every day. He loved nothing more than being with Zach and Cody, but he also wanted to feel as if he was accomplishing something with his life separate from them.

After finishing his shower, throwing on some clothes that probably needed to be washed later, and grabbing an apple and a bottle of water from the kitchen, Shaun left to go run to the bank and then the library. Mondays were always bank days, since Zach didn’t get his paycheck from his part-time art studio job until Sunday each week. Unfortunately, the studio didn’t use direct deposit for their payroll, so Shaun ended up taking Zach’s paycheck and depositing it for him the next day. Shaun had told Zach that he didn’t need to work, that the money saved from his previous books and appearances was plenty to live on, but Zach insisted that he contribute in some way and was lucky to find such a great job close to campus. Shaun had to admit that he could see the benefits to the position, but did extract a promise from Zach that if it got to be too much between the job and school, that he would quit the job first. School was more important and Shaun wasn’t about to let Zach throw all his hard work away over a job that wasn’t worth that sacrifice.

Shaun arrived at the bank around 12:30. He knew the lunch rush would be crazy, but he wanted to get this errand finished before heading to the library to work on his book for a few hours, (or look up Youtube videos on surfing, depending on his willpower that day). He filled out a deposit slip and waited in line for 20 minutes, forced to listen to the lady behind him complain to her daughter on the phone about her cat’s intestinal troubles and the guy in front of him who was singing off-key to TLC’s “Waterfalls”. 

It was basically hell.

He finally reached the next available teller and wasn’t really paying attention to the small talk, until the change in Francine’s tone when he off-handedly mentioned he was depositing the check for his boyfriend.

“Excuse me, sir?”

Francine asked this with such a look of disdain on her face that Shaun was worried that her pursed lips would stay stuck that way forever.

“I’m just depositing my boyfriend’s paycheck and I’ve done it several times before. Is there a problem, Francine?”

Shaun knew he was getting pissy, but the vibe he got from Francine was not good and he wanted to stop this in its tracks before it got worse. 

Francine continued to look at him as if he killed her cat, before saying, “Please wait a moment, sir,” and got up to go over to her manager. They spoke in hushed whispers for a few minutes before they both came back to Francine’s window. 

“Hello, sir, my name is Frank Hudson and I’m the manager of this branch. Francine has told me that you were attempting to deposit a check for someone else. Are you authorized to access this account? Are you one of the account holders?”

Shaun couldn’t believe this was happening. Somehow Francine had convinced her boss that he was attempting to scam the bank and all because of her rather obvious homophobia. Counting to 10 in his head, Shaun tried to rectify the situation as best he could.

“No, Mr. Hudson, I am not an authorized account holder, but I’m not trying to withdraw any funds. I’ve never had a problem depositing a check before, especially since I have the account number and all the other information you need on that slip. Is this going to be a major issue?”

Mr. Hudson was beginning to look pretty uncomfortable and Shaun wasn’t that good of a guy that he didn’t feel at least a little satisfied at the manager’s discomfort. But he was also running late now and all he wanted to do was deposit Zach’s check and get out of there. Slapping on his biggest, “butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth” smile, Shaun asked, “What is it going to take for us to get this resolved quickly?”

In the end, Shaun had to call Zach, (which he hated to do, since Zach was in the middle of class), and have him speak to the manager. Once the manager got approval from Zach, and then a lecture about how Shaun should be placed on the account for future transactions, Shaun was finally able to deposit Zach’s check.

As Francine was handing Shaun his receipt, he couldn’t help but whisper, “Don’t worry. You can’t actually catch ‘the gay’, so you’re safe from me. I just hope one day you will realize how messed up your way of thinking is and that you won’t treat anyone else the way you treated me today.”

Shaun left the bank treasuring the look of shock on Francine’s face and thought that maybe Monday would turn out to be better than expected. Then he saw the flat tire on his car and Shaun’s day got worse from that point on. In the process of changing the tire, (how had he not noticed the huge nail in the parking lot!), the heavens decided to open up and let loose a rare southern California thunderstorm. By the time he finished replacing the flat with his spare from the trunk, he was completely soaked. Dripping water all over his leather seats, Shaun hit his head against the steering wheel a few times. Luckily, he had a change of clothes in his bag in the back seat, so when he got to the library, he quickly dried off and put on the new clothes in the bathroom.

He was determined to make the next couple of hours count, in order to make up for all the craziness so far. Unfortunately, what ended up happening was Shaun just stared at his laptop screen, managed to write one paragraph, (before deleting it), had his Word program crash and then as he was leaving the library, it started to rain again.

By the time Shaun got home, he was wet, tired and frustrated beyond belief. All he wanted to do was take a hot shower and go to bed and forget that the day had even happened. He just hoped that Zach and Cody weren’t home yet, so he could avoid spreading his bad mood vibes their way. He walked into the kitchen, intending to grab a towel to dry off, so he wouldn’t drip all the way back to their bedroom, when he noticed the food cooking on the stovetop. It was his favorite pasta and he swore he smelled garlic bread in the oven as well. Confused, Shaun headed into the dining room and stopped when he saw what Zach and Cody had done for him. The table was set with some of his other favorite dishes and there was even a bouquet of flowers in one of their lopsided vases. A huge sign was hung on the wall next to the table, written in Cody’s childish scrawl, that said, “Thank you Shaun for all you do! We love you!!” Shaun started to tear up at this display and thus didn’t notice when Zach and Cody finally walked in to the room. 

“Shaun! We weren’t expecting you back for another hour. There was more we were planning on doing for you, but I only had enough time to pick up Cody, before getting back home to start your dinner. I know you’ve been through a lot today, with the whole bank screw-up, which we can talk about later I promise. It’s not much, but Cody and I wanted to do something special for you and…”

Zach was cut off by Shaun’s very insistent kiss, the kind of kiss that could’ve turned hotter, if not for Shaun backing away with one last sweet touch. Zach looked a little flustered, with a soft smile on his face that always got to Shaun. 

“So, I can assume that you like our surprise then?” Zach looked amused now and Cody was giggling in the background and Shaun could feel all the warmth and love in the room filling him up. His day had been awful, but as long as Zach and Cody were in his life, he knew that he could get through just about anything.


End file.
